The Military Objectives of Germany and Italy in the Spanish Civil War

France was a crucial site for the organization and operation of transnational networks seeking to mobilize support for Republican Spain. At the core of many of these efforts was the Comité mondial contre la guerre et le fascisme (CM, also known as the World Committee Against War and Fascism). It had its roots in two organizations, the World Congress Against War, formed in 1932, and the European Workers’ Anti-Fascist Union, established in 1933, with these groups merging to form the World Committee in August of that year.  

Headquartered in Paris, the CM was established with the support of the Communist International, also known as the Comintern. French nationals played a key role in the organization; for instance, the famed First World War veteran and pacifist author Henri Barbusse served as co-chair until his death in 1936. Barbusse worked with and received support from Stalin’s regime, but the organization was intended to attract non-Communists, with prominent intellectuals, politicians, and pacifists from a wide variety of countries supporting its work. In the turbulent international environment of the time, it quickly engaged in mobilization efforts, with supporters rallying, for instance, against Fascist Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. 

The CM was also quick to respond to the outbreak of civil war in Spain. It organized a conference in Paris in August 1936, at which a more specialized organization, the Comité international de coordination et d’information pour l’aide à l’Espagne républicaine (CICAER) was established. This group subsequently coordinated medical assistance, food supplies, and support for children and refugees, liaising with organizations based in Britain, the United States, Canada, Argentina, and elsewhere.  

The CM also devoted considerable energy and resources to raising awareness about the cause of the Spanish Republic. The pamphlet pictured here, published in 1938, provides an example of its messaging regarding the Civil War. As the cover image indicates, such publications stressed the many dangers posed by Franco’s rebellion. They emphasized the hostility of the Spanish Nationalists to the French Republic, Franco’s affinities with Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany, and the threat to the international order that a Spanish regime aligned with those countries would pose.   

The views promoted by the CM reflected the broader anti-fascist Popular Front strategy championed by Communist parties in France, Spain, and elsewhere, with support from the Soviet Union, during the 1930s. At the same time, much recent research cautions against seeing these organizations as simply being a tool of Soviet foreign policy. Their activities reflected the views of a variety of activists sympathetic to the Spanish Republic. 

SK